Convex, Concave
by miabubble
Summary: When Lily dies, her whole life flashes before her eyes. The ups and downs and everything in between for the young Gryffindors in question, right up until that fatefull night.
1. Prologue

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NOTE: This was up on my old account as "free all angels", but I deleted it and continued the story on my new one. I didn't write harry potter so don't sue me it's a fanfic!

Prologue

"Come on big boy, time for bed." A fiery redhead smiled down at a tiny baby - evidently her son. She lifted him off the floor into her fragile looking arms, which were the colour of fresh milk, dotted with a few freckles. 

The little boy curled his chubby little baby fingers around chunks of the glowing red hair into pudgy little fists. He giggled as his mother brushed the messy mass of black on the top of his head that made up his hair, away from his forehead to reveal a startling pair of green eyes. She remembered that colour, it was the same as the fresh pickled toads that she had used in potion classes at school, a few years ago. These eyes, James - the boy's father, her husband – said, looked like emeralds, glistering in the sunlight, radiating happiness and joy. Looking into her only son's eyes, she felt happy. They were the same eyes as she had. She noted that he would soon need glasses, like her, probably. Their eyes were incredibly similar.

"Daddy!" the little boy tugged at his mother's hair, which was still in his fist, at the sight of his father. Their hair was incredibly similar; James's darker than Harry's was, and a little bit messier. Harry's mother handed the boy to James, and left them in the lounge, after greeting James with a kiss. She pulled a long stick out of her pocket, and flicked it, producing some gold and silver sparks. The little boy, though he did not know it yet, was a special boy. He was unlike many one-year-olds in Britain; indeed Harry Potter was a wizard. 

He was also and extra special wizard. He was, with his parents, in hiding. In hiding form the most evil and terrible wizard that had lived in a long, long time. The most evil and terrible wizard since Grindewald. Nothing was going to stop him. Harry didn't understand his parent's worries their fears. He sensed that they were rather uneasy, but didn't inquire it any further, for his range of vocabulary, at the age of one, did not extend far enough for people to understand fully what he meant when he spoke.

Harry squeezed a fistful of fabric from his father's robe, trying to be reassuring.

"James?" Lily came back into the room, carrying a bottle of frothing substance, labelled _Butterbeer'_ and handed it to James. She looked right up at James. Her eyes were full of fear and worry, but most of all love. She loved James, and feared loosing him more than she feared loosing herself. She was so scared that they were going to die.

"Lily, go to sleep, I'll tuck him up. Sirius was going to come check on us tonight. But he has stuff to finish at the office so he'll be late. I can handle Sirius you know, we've been best mates for a long time." Lily smiled, gave James a quick kiss on the lips, making her way to the mahogany staircase in the hall.

"Thiriuth!" Harry felt a little forgotten; he also loved his godfather very much.

"Yes Sirius is coming tonight." Lily, laughed, doubled back to give Harry his kiss.

"Look! Peepa!" Although he was only one year old, Harry already had his sharp seeker instincts, and he saw, out of the corner of his eye as a cloaked hooded figure passed the front of the house. Although there was not a trace of evidence that the figure was Peter, Harry knew.

Lily looked worried. Frowning she turned to her husband, who was laughing. 

"No Harry, Peter is in Devon, we can go visit him when all this is over."

When all this is over, was a great topic of conversation in the Potter household. No one actually knew when "all this" would be over. Voldemort was the most evil Wizard in centuries, and he seemed unstoppable. He was taking over Europe by storm, his followers (who called themselves Death Eaters) were taking over most Asian Countries, he had complete rule of Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Korea, China was putting up a good fight. Western Countries were overflowing with refugees, hospitals all over were short of staff, some of the injuries were terrible, others fatal. The death toll rose by hundreds every week. 

Lily and James had gone into hiding a year ago now. Albus Dumbledore was the greatest wizard around for centuries. He was the wizard that had defeated Grindewald in 1945, and he had made many exceedingly important discoveries, some say magical breakthroughs. Anyhow, Albus Dumbledore was a great friend of the Potters, and was one of the few wizards who did not fear Voldemort and would do anything to stop him. Slowly, one by one, Voldemort killed off all such wizards, and the Potters were his next targets. 

The Potters and their friends, but they didn't matter; he just needed to kill the Potters. And most importantly Harry, for there was a prophecy. About a boy, the son on those who had escaped him three times already that would rise and be as powerful as him. Voldemort of course could not have this. _He_ was the great ruler in the wizarding world, so he must get rid of this child. But was it the Potters or the Longbottom's son? Whichever it was he would kill both boys, and their parents too. However, Lily and James, (and Frank and Alice), being how they were, had a few advantages in this situation. 

The first and biggest one was the fact that Albus was a good friend of theirs. This meant that they had a lot of protection from him, and also had the Order of the Phoenix (a network of spies) all trying to find information for them. Albus Dumbledore was the one that came up with the idea of the Fidelius Charm. Well, he didn't invent it, but he told Lily and James that they ought to use it. After a lot of discussion they decided that living at Hogwarts (they had been hiding there for 8 months then) was getting of hand, and not the best for Harry, their baby boy. Naturally James' best friend, Sirius was to be James and Lily's secret keeper and so it was all arranged. As far as anyone else knew it. James and Sirius however, had another plan up their sleeve. No one else, not even Lily knew that in fact, Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper of the Potters. Sirius could not see them, which was why James had to always make up excuses for why he would be late. He never could come and see his friends. 

The Potter just moved into their new house a few days ago, they had stayed at Hogwarts a couple of days to make sure the charm was fully sealed and working. The had bought a small house in Godric's Hollow, a tiny village in the outskirts of Edinburgh in Scotland a couple of years after leaving school, but hardly had a chance to live in it since. There were still boxes and bags to be unpacked which Lily couldn't be bothered doing, even the magical way. James still went on regular meeting with Dumbledore, and the spy network, which had been created, therefore it seemed to Lily as if he was working again.

Lily hadn't worked at all since her maternity leave a year and a half ago, as they immediately went into hiding. She didn't mind, she just stayed at home and cared for Harry. She had no contact with her friends from school. It was too much of a risk to tell anyone where she was, or in fact that they were even in hiding. The thing was that there was definitely a spy working for Voldemort but no one knew who that was. Was it a close friend of James'? Or Lily? It was anyone's guess. The only person, according to Lily, who knew where they were, was Sirius and Sirius would rather be tortured and killed a slow and painful death than betray his best friend. 

***

But it was not so. At that very moment, Peter Pettigrew – their true secret keeper - was standing outside the Potter's house, an evil grin spread on his face, looking up at the sky, chanting. The words that escaped his mouth were full of hate, twisted and disgusting words in a dark, long-dead language. The words, as soon as they left his lips, dissolved into the air each word adding another part to the picture. The picture was a revolting sign in the sky. It was an enormous skull, composed of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. It rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of green smoke.

When the Dark Mark was complete in the sky Pettigrew, who also went by the name of Wormtail, looked at it with pride in his eyes. He touched the tip of his wand on his forearm, which was tattooed with an identical sing to the one in the air – the Dark Mark. He winced with the pain that penetrated his veins, as it seethed through his body like fire burning his every cell. The mark glowed black and a tall man, cloaked in black apperated beside him.

This man was cloaked in black velvet, he had a pale, pale white face, with slits for his nose, an evil twisted smile, and red eyes. A trickle of blood ran from his mouth, and he rose a crude, raw, bony finger to his mouth and wiped away the blood.

"I was busy Wormtail. This better be important." The man did not speak. He hissed, a vile voice that was similar a snake's hiss leaked his mouth and terror was in his eyes. Power. Absolute power, a terrifying power was what filled those repulsive red eyes. 

"I have them My Lord. The Potter's are all yours. They are at this moment in the house that we are standing beside."

"They are? Good, good. Wormtail for this you will be honored beyond your dreams. The greatest Death Eater to ever live. I will even give you gratification of Killing that Evans girl after I am done with the stupid Potter."

A wave of guilt passed Wormtail's face and he momentarily felt like throwing up. 

"I would be honored my lord." The memories of Lily and James in their school days passed his mind briefly, but were soon replaced with dreams of how wonderful life was going to be. Him, Peter Pettigrew, the right hand man of the greatest Wizard to ever walk this earth! That would show everyone, everyone who thought he'd amount to nothing.

"Take me to them Wormtail."

***

Lily put her arms around James. He had come back down to the Lounge after putting Harry to bed.

"He asleep?" she muttered into his shoulder, as he held her close.

"Was muttering about how he wanted to see Peepa.' Miss him myself, I must say." He kissed Lily, and they sat with their glasses of Butterbeer in front of the roaring fire, idly chatting, keeping close.

"James, you know I love you no matter what?"

"I know," he said kissing her, "I love you too."

A sound came from the garden, waking Harry, and making Lily and James jump. James went to check out what it was, while Lily grabbed her wand, which was around the back of the house in the Kitchen.

"It's him! Lily Run, get Harry, and run! I'll hold him back! JUST RUN!" James shouted frantically. Lily didn't need telling twice, she ran faster than she had ever in her life up the stairs to grab Harry. She loved Harry and James so much. She would not be able to stand it if either of them died. Her heard was racing she was so scared.

"So Potter, we meet again." She heard Voldemort talking to James downstairs. Frantically she tried to think of a way to escape. The only way to get out would be to Run for it. She couldn't apperate, not with Harry, and the broomsticks were downstairs. She heard a crash. James and Voldemort were duelling. It was followed by another explosion, and she felt the walls shake. If she didn't hurry up she would be crushed to death by the rubble of the house.

Deciding to run for it, she sprinted down the stairs, Harry grabbing on to her tightly. In the lounge, Voldemort was sending more spells in James' direction. He was badly hurt, and had blood trickling from his brow. The Evil wizard looked to be enjoying himself. Lily looked in disgust. She couldn't just leave James. He was about to open her mouth when Voldemort cornered James, and flicked his wand. The house shook again.

"_GO LILY RUN_" screamed James, as Voldemort laughed, "Avada Kedavra"

James fell to the ground in a flash of green light.

Lily Ran. She could hear Voldemort behind her, but she carried on blindly. She couldn't believe it. Sirius, he couldn't have been the spy; he would never betray them, never. She was confused and scared. Something grabbed her, making her trip. She protected her head, doing her best not to hurt him; she fell roughly to the ground. Voldemort was standing in front of her.

"Give me the boy."

"Never" The last thing she would do would be protecting her son. With James dead, he was the only thing that she had left.

"Stand aside you silly girl"

"Have mercy! Please not Harry!" she forgot all of her pride and begged, begged for her son's life.

"Stand aside!"

"_NO_, take me instead, not Harry!"

"You leave me no choice! Silly, silly girl! Avada Kedavra!"

With those words, Lily squeezed Harry's tiny hand and fell motionless to the ground.

Before she hit the ground, her whole life flashed before her eyes


	2. Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Chapter 2 — Sunday Bloody Sunday

If the sun was shining brightly in a roomy Yorkshire home, it was nothing compared to the blazing heat it was producing in the centre of London. If you stuck your head out of the back window, you might just hear the faint laughter and screaming of young boys in the distance. This had confused the young girl who was currently looking out since a very early age. So as she looked out of her window to try and where the faint screams were coming from that sunny Sunday morning she was not quite as shocked, as one would expect to see an owl flutter past. What made her even more surprised was the fact that the owl disappeared the moment she blinked. She sighed. She'd always seen these strange things, so it was not special to her at all to notice an owl flying past.

Sighing she made her way out of her roomy bedroom ad into the kitchen. Her sister was sitting there braiding her hair whilst munching on lettuce.

"You should eat some real food Petty, you're getting too skinny." 

"What and get as fat as you are Lily? I'd rather give pancakes a pass and go on a date with that new boy mmm he's nice." 

Lily sighed again; nothing was going right lately. Her sister was being specially horrible to her, and although her mother told her it was just her sisters hormones Lily couldn't help but wonder if puberty was the sole reason for her sisters wicked temper or not. She was only 9 but far to mature for her age, as her father kindly put it. This was the reason that Petunia was so cold towards her sister. She couldn't stand being 5 years older and 5 times as stupid. 

Lily left the kitchen, with an ice-lolly followed by an evil stare from her older sister who was obviously craving for one herself, but had her figure to worry about. In Lily's opinion she needed to put _on_ some weight, as her currently bony figure made her have amount twice the amount of neck that any normal person would have. Still mumbling to herself as she left the house, Lily picked up a Barbie rucksack that her parents had given her for Christmas. 

It was July so her parents let her go down to the play-park at the end of the road by herself. They knew that she would be under the watchful eye of Antiona Figg the old grumpy lady who lived in the last house of Grimmauld place. 

Lily did not like Grimmauld very much, the houses were very close together, quite dark and stuffy, and her back garden was very small indeed. What she did enjoy about it was the park at the end of the road, an extraordinary thing to exist in a London street. What was also unusual about the road, and what made Lily appreciate it even more was that there was no number 12. Along one side the houses went 9, 11, 13. And across the miniature road they went 8, 10, 14 there were any theories trying to explain why this was, but none seemed true or realistic. Lily found this brilliant, and fascinating.

She walked past numbers 10 and 14 as she made her way to the park, and heard the voices a little more clearly than she had ever done before. She spun round in an instant and out of the corner of her eye she saw a hand disappearing into the space where number 12 would have been, had there been room between numbers 10 and 14. She frowned, however walked on. 

***

Several hours later while sitting on the swing that Mr Figg had tied to the nearby tree, mainly for his ditzy daughter, Arabella, Lilly saw her mother's car drive past the park — her parents were home, that means tea will be ready very soon. Deciding to go home and listen to some of her records on her Dad's Gramophone before dinner, Lily lazily made her way along the path and onto the miniature road along which the gloomy houses stood day in, day out. 

Lily could hear an Elvis record being played in number 10 and Petunia's voice was audible from an upstairs window, singing along to Elvis with her friend ooohh-ing and aah-ing as she sang. The Smyth's were having another argument about what to call their baby. Lily thought this was stupid, Mrs Smyth was only 2 months pregnant, they had plenty time to decide.

In the place where number 12 should have been, which was only a metre wide, sat a fat tabby cat, which Lily assumed belonged to the Figgs (their daughter Arabella who was about 18 and still lived at home, was obsessed with cats). She tabby meowed at Lily. 

"Shoo, you fat cat! Shoo!"

"That's not very nice is it now Lillian?" replied a voice, from behind the cat. 

But no one was there.

Lily double checked, she wasn't usually scared, and the voice had so far failed to frighten her, she was guessing that it belonged the new boy Petty was talking about in the morning, and he was merely trying to scare her. 

"OW! JAMES! STOP IT, IT _TICKLES_!"

Of all things that could have scared her it was the scream. Although it sounded distant, Lily thought that it cam from right in front of her. Yelling she raced down the road and into the house.

"Well done mate, exactly what you wanted to do!"

"Shut up!"

"Hmmm What I want to know is how she heard us? I know your house is unplottable, but doesn't it have Muggle repelling charms placed on it? I'm sure she wasn't screaming at the cat."

"Well it must mean that either the charms aren't working properly, or she's a witch."

"No way!"

A flash of lightning split the sky, and seconds later the two invisible boys heard a crash of thunder, and their footsteps could be heard trotting into an invisible house. Their Voices faded away and there was once more no sign of Number 12 Grimmauld place ever existing. 

Lily hadn't heard the conversation between the boys because she had bolted across the street and into number 7 - her house — where it was safe and warm and dinner was already steaming and on the table. She sat down on her usual seat and soon forgot all about the strange voices and the cat and the mystery of number 12. She sat watching the Flinstones on TV whilst cuddling the teddy bear her granny had given her, and listening to the storm raging outside. She yawned and was soon in a deep sleep. 

Little did she know that she would be hearing a lot of the voices that she had heard in the imaginary number 12 Grimmauld Place in a couple of years time, and forever after.


	3. Merry Christmas

Chapter 3 – Merry Christmas 

Before she realised it, Lily was 10 years old, and it was a beautiful winter morning. The air was crisp and sharp, so when she inhaled some of the smells of early morning Lily tasted the nearly frozen Dew in the air and felt it cut into the back of her delicate throat. Clouds were forming in the sky already, and as Lily watched the road below her she felt a snow flake fall onto her nose and melt against her warm face. Giggling she shut her window with a snap and began getting dressed. She could hear the radio playing in the bathroom – her dad must also be up. She sang along to the Bob Dylan song playing as she picked a top to wear.

The smell of Bacon was making its way upstairs and her sister could now be heard banging on the bathroom door telling hr dad to hurry up, she _had_ to do her makeup _now._ Lily hoped she would not be like this when she was 15, it seemed rather annoying. And then her next door neighbour's barked, and it was apparent that the postman would arrive any second. 

She skipped down stairs and flicked though the letters, but it was all Christmas cards. She didn't understand them, they were a waste of trees in her opinion. She chucked them on the table and went into the kitchen where had mum had placed bacon rolls on a large round plate for everyone on the breakfast bar. Lily and her mum were shortly joined by her dad and older sister and the began eating breakfast, discussing their plans or the day and what was happening in the evening, for it was Christmas eve.

It was decided that everyone (Petunia) should be home no later than 6 to have tea and finish wrapping their presents while watching Christmas movies. Lily liked this idea, because the snow showed no signs of stopping which gave her the perfect opportunity to curl up in her bedroom with a book and read for a few hours. While she did this her mother cooked and cleaned the house and her father went down to the office the finish a few bits and bobs before the holiday. Petunia was at her friends house again, although Lily didn't believe this, and was convinced she was on a date with Vernon, an ugly boy who was about as fat he was tall, and rich enough to pay for all Petunia's requests. He went to some weird Boarding school and from what she saw, Lily didn't think he was very nice at all

It was still only 5 o'clock when she finished her book, but when she looked out of the window, it was apparent that the it had recently stopped snowing. The ground was covered with a sheet of white velvet, the trees coated in cotton wool and the houses clothed in fluffy fair foam. The snow had settled. Lily raced to her wardrobe and put on her warmest clothes, ready to go outside. She made fresh footprints in the snow as she skipped along the pavement to the park. When she reached it, first thing that she noticed was that somebody was already there. 

"Eerrrr Hello" Lily didn't recognise this boy at all, and she wasn't aware of any kids her age living close by. She had never seen anyone in this park before, she had for a long time been the only one who had ever visited it, as no kids her age lived close by.

The boy looked up at her. He had jet-black hair, and black eyes to match, but instead of looking frightening, the eyes neatly contrasted his soft features. His cheeks were rosy from the cold, and a few freckles remained behind from after the summer. His pale face didn't have a single spot or blemish, and his slightly chapped lips were ruby red. He flicked his hair out of his eyes with his right hand and smiled at the girl.

"Hello there."

They both looked at each other for a moment and then both spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm out"

"What? In this weather?"

They looked at each other again and then burst out laughing. 

"Snap!" said Lily with a giggle.

"What?" replied the boy looking at her quizzingly.

"You know, like the game snap we said all that at the same time!" she giggled again.

"Right" the boy looked like he had no idea what snap was, but Lily decided he was just weird or maybe a foreigner.

Considering him for another second, Lily spoke again before he could turn away from her. She brushed her hand against his coat as she moved to brush her hair from her face, and noted it was the softest material she had ever felt. It was like the softest of Arabian silks, yet thick and tough like the hardest of substances, and most definitely looked like leather. 

"So, what's your name then? And how come I haven't seen you here before?"

"My name's Sirius and you haven't seen me here before because I haven't been here before." He said in a singsong voice. 

"No need to be so rude!" lily was positively offended, Maybe it was because she didn't talk with many people at school but no one had ever been so rude to her before so she was somewhat shocked. And she was sure she recognised the boy's voice.

"Sorry babe" he winked at her and threw a snowball in her face. Screaming Lily chased after him. He was pretty face but it was hard to run in the deep snow. Lily grabbed at the snow, spraying it in the boy's direction, and running on.

Half an hour later, they were lying on their backs side by side in the snow, covered head to toe in snow. Had someone driven their car along Grimmauld place at this point they would not have noticed the two children in the snow but rather thought it was just two stout snowmen that Lily had built in her boredom.

Everyone knew that Lily never really had any friends. She never brought Girls round for Tea like Petunia did at her age. She never spent her lunchtimes flicking though the colourful magazines that other girls looked at, or painting her toenails in bright colours, or making her hair look like it had been sprayed with fairy dust, by covering herself with glitter. She never went to school dances, or brownies like other girls. And everyone noticed that Lily would far rather spend her time reading a big book intended for Secondary School pupils than be painting and mucking about.

So when she finally got home (at five past six) her parents were shocked to see she had a huge grin on her face and that she was covered in snow. Her clothes were hung by the fire to dry, and lily got changed into nice clothes for Christmas Eve dinner. She eagerly told her parents about her new friend. He was visiting the Figg's as they were his distant relations and he saw the swing so he decided the sit there as their house reeked of cabbages (Lily agreed) and Lily had found him there.

Lily believed his story. She had no idea, that Sirius actually lived in number 12 Grimmauld place or that the reason he was in the park was that his parents were being especially Muggleist that night which he couldn't put up with anymore. His house elf had accidentally left a load of rubbish in Sirius' room, and the room smelled very badly, so he had nowhere to hide. He had many a time seeked refuge at the Figg's but today he knew that it would be impossible. Mrs Figg, was quite an old witch and she had suffered a lot in the last few days after a fight with some dark wizard. Sirius had read about this in the Daily prophet and decided to stay away from their house for a while, thus ending up in the small part near their house. He had been swinging on the magical swing that MR Figg had put there many years ago when he heard someone coming. Instantly he stopped. It was the Evans girl from down the road. He enjoyed tormenting her sister whenever she walked past his house tartly on her way to that Vernon's house, and he hoped that Lily would be different from her older sister. He had of course been right, and as he made his way back to Number 12 Grimmauld place, he couldn't help but smile. He just _had_ to send James an owl.


	4. Happy Birthday

Chapter 4 Ð Happy Birthday 

ÒPetunia!!!Ó Lily rarely raised her voice, but this on occasion it seemed perfectly justifiable to shout at her older sister. She had used one of LilyÕs books to paint her toenails on, and had covered it in blobs of lustrous nail polish that reflected numerous colours in the light. Why Petty bothered doing this was another mystery to Lily, as she never wore sandals unless they were in Spain. But that was not why Lily was mad, she couldnÕt care less what colour her sisterÕs toes were or why and who she planned to show them, this was a _book _for godÕs sake! How could Petunia be so careless with a _book?!_

ÒThey should make biting books,Ó said Lily to no one in particular. She had rushed into the bathroom to try and clean up at least some of the mess that her sister had made, but it was no use, the front cover was ruined.

ÒI donÕt see what youÕre moaning about, LilsÓ Lily hated being called Lils, but it was her sisterÕs new nickname for her, and Lily just could not be bothered arguing any more with her sister. Petunia started enough arguments between them so there was no need for her to cause any more fights. ÒItÕs just a book, and anyway, you can still _read_ it!Ó 

That blew it. ÒRead it? Oh yeah and when have you ever read a book!? Why use my book when you could have used any of your stupid stinking magazines! I hope they burn! I hope all your magazines burn!Ó

As soon as Lily uttered those words the two girls heard the smoke alarm. _Their_ smoke alarm.

ÒWhat theÉÓ Petunia didnÕt finish her sentence, she just started running, leaving her sister in the bathroom holding her book and very scared. In the few seconds that it took Lily to realise what was going on, Petunia was already out of the door. Lily knew that she shouldnÕt go into any of the rooms but she just had to checkÉ. Her sisterÕs door was slightly ajar, so Lily didnÕt feel quite so guilty peeking in on her way down stairs. Sure enough one of her sisterÕs candles had fallen over and set fire to a magazineÉ the whole pile was now in flames.

It was an accident though, thought Lily as she crept down the stairs and out of the house. Her parents had just arrived home and Petunia had broken down into fake tears explaining to them that she had tried _really_ hard to get her sister out but she was in the bathroom and the flames were everywhere so she ran for her life. Lily heard Fire Engines approaching as she left her house and went to tell her parents and a very disappointed Petunia that she was in fact ok, and that the fire was in her sisterÕs room.

The neighbours were gathering round now too and this was becoming a bit of a social gathering. Petunia started pretending to cry but her parents shushed her up, telling her it was her own fault for leaving candles burning in her room. Petunia was shocked. 

As Lily stood there watching the neighbours assess the damage and discuss what was happening merrily she noticed something moving out of the corner of her eye. She was sure it was a boyÉ but now he was gone. She waited to make sure no one was watching and then went across the road to the space between houses numbered 10 and 14. She felt like she was trespassing, although that piece of space didnÕt belong to anyone, nobody ever went there. For a brief moment Lily wondered why, but soon forgot as she tripped up onÉ. Well, nothing. There was nothing there, yet she definitely didnÕt trip on her own foot. She was confused and sat on the cold ground trying to think of a logical explanation.

Suddenly she heard what she was sure was SiriusÕ voice. But there was no one there. 

ÒLily, _RUN_! Just do it IÕll explain everything later, just run Lily _RUN_!Ó He sounded terrified and as if he was running to tell her. Although completely baffled by SiriusÕ voice, she did as he told her and ran as fast as her diminutive legs would carry her. She heard several sets of heavy footsteps behind her and a fain yell, but didnÕt turn back.

Out of breath she stopped at the street corner, where the park was and fell on to the grass. Wheezing she lay there a second and looked at the clouds. She swore she saw a fluffy cloud dog wink at her and next thing she knew she was fast asleep. 

***

ÒThere she is!Ó her fatherÕs voice was somewhere in a distanceÉ but she didnÕt want to wake up, it was such a good dream, she was riding a flying pumpkin to the moon with a fat ginger cat for company who occasionally called her names and gave her meaningless directions which seemed to make perfect sense. 

When she opened her eyes, Lily realised she was not gorging in the brilliant sunlight any longer but was lying in stone cold grass shivering slightly. WhatÕs more her hands were an impressive shade of blue, and from her parents faces she guessed that the rest of her was too. 

Lily opened her eyes fully and looked right ahead, which happened to be at the starlit velvety sky. She stared at the heavens sprinkled with glistering with diamonds for a second and looked for her favourite star Ð Sirius. 

Sirius. Oh. She sat bold upright and a roll of parchment fell off her body. Next thing she felt was excruciating pain as she became aware of her (very cold) body. Coughing she tried to tell her parents that she was all right, but instead she croaked ÔIÕm fine, honestly mum,Ó as her father lifted her up and took carried her back to the house. Lily clutched the roll of parchment really tightly as he carried her to her bed. No one asked about it, even though both her mother and father had eyed it suspiciously.

As soon as they had tucked her up in her warm bed, and made sure that the room was thoroughly heated, LilyÕs mum and dad kissed her goodnight, reminded her never to sleep outdoors so late at night again. When she heard the bedroom door click shut across the landing Lily jumped out of bed and ran to her desk where she had left the parchment that had appeared under her delicate arm while she had slept soundly on the lawn.

Her hands shaking she unrolled the parchment. What a weird way to write a letter she thought. She was sure it was from the strange boy though, Sirius. However she was beginning to doubt ever seeing him, or hearing him for that matter. But then it would be impossible to explain the letterÉ

Lily took a deep breath and unrolled the parchment to find a not scribbled in what looked like proper Olde English, however, it was normal English just in very curly handwriting.

_Lily,_

_IÕm so sorry for all this confusion. I was playing catch with my friend from school and I got stuck in that alley thing. He was going to cover you in pain and I didnÕt want that to happen. Sorry we scared you,_

_Sirius x_

Lily read it again and threw it down. She didnÕt believe a single word of it. She muttered the first swear word of her life, and was appalled at herself. Angrily she tiptoed back to bed. Once she got there she had no idea how she had done it, because she had never before heard of someone tiptoeing angrily. You tiptoed silently and you stormed angrilyÉ but Lily supposed that there was a first for everything, and she must have been the first to tiptoe angrilyÉwith these confused thoughts she fell into a troubled sleep.

Across the road Sirius black was falling into a similarly uneasy sleep. His parents were still fuming; his motherÕs screams echoed the house and his fathers grumbling filled in the blanks. He shivered as he tossed and turned. He felt bad about lying to Lily, yet it was odd that she had managed to get so close to the houseÉ

***

The alarm went off louder than normal in LilyÕs room that morning, and she briefly wondered if it was just her extra deep sleep of her alarm actually being louder when she realised something a LOT more important. It was the 23rd of JulyÉ

Her _BIRTHDAY_! Jumping out of bed she raced downstairs where her parents already sat waiting with big smiles on their faces. Petunia gave her an extra specially big birthday scowl, and Lily smiled even more. Nothing was going to spoil her mood. She unwrapped her presents that were laid out on the kitchen table, she noted that the pile decreased substantially in size every year, not that she cared much, and she knew her parents werenÕt exactly stinking rich. Her parents had giver her a few books and a beautiful leather bound book, which her mother told her she should use for writing in. 

She curiously unwrapped PetuniaÕs present, which was a nail varnish kit. Lily couldnÕt help but giggle, when would Petty learn? Lily wasnÕt going to start painting her nails anytime soon, if ever. The thanked Petunia and even kissed her on the cheek, which made her scowl even more, and her mother hastily served the family breakfast. LilyÕs favourite was eggy bread, which they rarely had because her dad hated it, but they all ate merrily that morning. 

LilyÕs Mum offered to get the post before Lily could even move, although Lily really didnÕt mind getting it, as she always did and it was a bit of a routine now. Her mum brought through a stack of envelopes, which, excluding a bank statement for her father, were all addressed to Lily. Several brightly coloured Cards were soon lined along the kitchen table and Lily took great joy in pocketing cheques, five pound and ten pound notes from various relatives and even twenty pounds from her grandfather. 

She heard the letter box click once more as she was about to open her last letter, and didnÕt hesitate to run to the door herself this time, leaving her mother several steps behind her and bounding to the door. There was another letter, written in the neatest handwriting she had ever seen lying on the doormat. She tore it open and found the most amazingly coloured psycadelic birthday card. It was signed Sirius. 

Lily beamed and then remembered that she had never told Sirius when her birthday was. Maybe she had but it slipped her mind... Lily soon forgot about it when she went back to the kitchen and admired her cards once again. She was almost about to go upstairs and begin reading her new books before her parents took her to the National History Museum, when Petunia reminded her:

ÒHey you forgot to open this one, birthday girlÓ

It was the strange envelope made of parchment, and written in green ink. On the back of it a was a wax seal, stamped with a coat of arms, like a school crest, with a lion, a snake, a badger and an eagle surrounding a large ÔHÕ. There was what looked like a motto engraved beneath the crest 

ÒDraco Dormiens Nunquam TitillandusÓ Lily muttered out loud. 

ÒSorry?Ó her dad enquired

ÒIts in LatinÉat least most of it isÉÓ muttered Lily again ÒNunquam means Never, Dormiens is sleep so sleeping in the accusativeÉ, Draco is dragonÉ Titillandus would be tickle IÕm thinking, but thatÕs Olde English so yeah, tickle? ÔNever Tickle a Sleeping DragonÕÓ 

ÒWell Practical advice to say the least!Ó her dad joked.

ÒIndeed...Ó this letter fascinated Lily. Who could it be? A club? A School? And why were they writing to her?

Absent-mindedly Lily was tearing open the envelope, and unfolding the parchment paper that was inside it.

ÒWell?Ó asked her dad.

ÒWell what?Ó replied a clearly shaken Lily.

ÒWell what is it about?Ó

ÒerrÉ nothingÉÓ Lily couldnÕt believe her pretty little green eyes! This had to be a joke, or a fraudÉ but at the same time it looked so realÉ

ÒLily?Ó Her mother spoke now, gently.

ÔErÉ IÕm a witchÉÓLily finally said.

ÒOhÓ


	5. Letters, Letters

Chapter 5 - Letters, Letters  
  
Lily had read, and re-read and re-read the letter may times. Her mother and father also read the letter several times, but Lily was currently in her room clutching her letter, and trying to understand why she was a witch. If she was a witch she would have turned her sister into a toad by now, and magic-ed herself some delicious toffee cheese cake instead of going hungry when they went camping... in fact, she would have been able to magic herself some cake right now. Lovely fudge cake, smothered in rich, luxurious chocolate, topped with thick cream and chocolate flakes and toffee... Lily realised she was drooling on her letter.  
  
"Dear Miss Lily Evans" It began. How did they know who she was? Maybe they looked up the telephone directory to find her name and address, but how did they know where she slept?! Unless they were watching her, because, well, the telephone directory didn't say that her bedroom was the second on the left after the bathroom, in fact she wasn't in the telephone directory, the whole family was under her dad's name.  
  
She sighed. She liked being open minded about things, and she didn't see why this magical world could not exist, on the other hand, people seemed to get by ok without any magic, so what is the need? Petunia went crazy. She called Lily a freak and told her she knew that there was something wrong with her and that she hoped Lily would be turned into a rabbit at her stupid new school and never turned back. Of course she said none of this in front of her parents and merely left the table quietly.  
  
Lily didn't have to leave the table, but her parents were busy discussing what was happening, they told her not to go if she wanted to hear, but she told them she understood everything and quietly went to her room. Humming noiselessly to herself she wondered what it meant, "we await your owl"?  
  
***  
  
Across the road, Lily's friend Sirius had also received a letter. Of course in his family it was not such a big deal, because they were all pure blood wizards, but Sirius was secretly relieved. If he had been a Squib, then his family would have disowned him. He didn't have an issue with Squibs, and Muggle-borns and Half bloods, but his parents appeared to have something against these people.  
  
He had voiced his opinion on how people should be equal and how he didn't care, but it had earned him a stern telling off and a beating from his father so he kept himself to himself. Sirius hated the family tree in his dining room, it was all pure blood wizards, and any people who married Muggles or Muggle-borns or someone who was not approved of by the family, was disowned. Sirius had a feeling he may be disowned too, if he didn't appreciate the family more.  
  
However Sirius sat in his room, clutching a letter exactly the same as Lily's and thinking what a wonderful life was ahead for him. 7 years of living away from home, 7 years without his brother sneering at him all the time.... he felt a knot form in his stomach. What if he was put in Slytherin like the rest of the family? He didn't want to be in stinky Slytherin! He sighed. Well at the end of the day he could ask to be moved. He had heard that the Headmaster was a crazy guy, so maybe he wouldn't notice if Sirius just moved.  
  
His parents HATED the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore with a vengeance; he liked Muggles too much in their opinion. Sirius really did not care. For some strange reason he wanted to visit the girl who lived on his street, Lily, but he was too scared, and anyway, what would he say? "Alright love? I'm a wizard?" He went instead to the park where he had met her.  
  
***  
  
Lily went back to the kitchen to find her parents both looking rather confused. There was an Owl on the kitchen table, but it wouldn't let either of them come close to it, although it obviously had a letter attached to its legs. Lily walked over to the table and the Owl, noticing Lily, looked at her closely as if examining her, and then flew over to land on the girls shoulder. Lily panicked a bit, looking somewhat confused and shaken, but realised that to handle any situation she really needed to clam down. Carefully, Lily removed the letter from the Owl's foot, but it did not fly off. The letter was again written on parchment, and in green ink. It was from the same person as the previous one, which had arrived by postman, Minerva McGonagall. The letter stated clearly where Lily needed to go and buy her school things and how everything in the place, Diagon Alley worked. Lily, although very taken aback was intrigued.  
  
"We could go," she began slowly, "and see what it is like. And see if it's real even and then, well we can see what happens can't we?"  
  
Her parents both smiled at her. They knew this meant that Lily would almost definitely end up going to this School, Hogwarts, and although a bit anxious, they were really happy for her. They knew she had a lot going for her, and they were completely sure that she would fulfil her potential, no matter if it were in the magic world.  
  
"So," her dad asked, "Why is the owl still here?"  
  
"I... eerrrrr don't know... Oh! The want us to reply and say whether I am going or not! Tie the letter to the Owl's foot and send it... strange!"  
  
***  
  
Sirius sat on the magical swing, gently coaxing it to slow down to a halt, as he sat silently swinging his legs. It was still to light to send his friend James an owl. He wanted to tell him he was going to Diagon Alley tomorrow, so that maybe they could meet up. His parents wouldn't approve, but Sirius didn't care.  
  
When it was dusk he began to walk back slowly to his house. Without intending to he looked over to Lily's house. He did a double take. He swore he just saw an Owl fly out of the front window. And sure enough a second late an owl dropping fell on his head.  
  
Sirius was in a very bad mood when he got home.  
  
***  
  
Lily once again was thinking about Hogwarts. She wished that she had been sent a school prospectus or something so that she knew what it was like, but she had nothing but her vivid imagination to go by. The classes looked fascinating: Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, were there Bad wizards too?  
  
Lily fell asleep with such thoughts swimming in her mind, and that night dreamed of Unicorns and Dragons, Cauldrons and Magic Wands, Broomsticks and Flying Carpets.  
  
It was a very good dream. 


	6. Wolf

Hogwarts?  
  
The sunshine was not what awoke the boy in a bright Yorkshire home that summer morning that Lily had received her letter. This boy was awake because he had just had an extremely difficult evening (and night), and was currently nursing several nasty cuts, scabs and bruises that he had acquired. He could hear birds awaking with the dawn, and the ripples of the wind seeping through his curtains into his bedroom, although he had not spent the night there.  
  
Feeling the early morning sunshine on his face after such a difficult night was like drinking the Elixir of Life every time. The boy loved the sunshine, it was so warm and soft on his delicate skin and he regarded it almost as a second mother, for it were nursing to his wounds and a painkiller to his heart. His real mother, he heard, was getting up in the next room. He heard her mutter a few spells in several different directions, and then heard her muttering about how worn her robes were.  
  
She knew, of course, that her son was awake. He was every month, but she knew better than to disturb him by now, he always liked his privacy after full moon. And so Remus Lupin sat quietly in his room with a book balanced on his uninjured knee, reading quietly. She went about her usual morning without the boy, preparing breakfast, cleaning the house, putting the books that Remus had to leave last night away the Muggle way. Remus didn't like the way that magic was rather clumsy with things like books, and he insisted she put them away manually as he called it. She sighed heavily, thinking of her sons love for books and how he would probably never be given the chance to study at Hogwarts the way she had.  
  
But Albus Dumbledore, the new headmaster as of last year was coming round to visit that afternoon. She hoped beyond belief that he would somehow help her son, maybe get him a little private tutoring. there was only so much she could teach him after all, and he had so much potential.  
  
Just then she heard her son leaving his room and going into the kitchen to wash up. She left him for a few minutes, and then brought a goblet of a potion to heal his wounds into the room.  
  
"Thank you mum" he said almost without looking up. There were a few silvery tears in his eye. The potion stung for a few seconds until soothing the cuts and bruises on his skin, and sealing them. His pale, fragile hands trembled as he added a bit more of the potion into his thigh, where an ugly gash was seeping wine-red liquid onto the floor.  
  
"Sorry, I got a bit of blood on the floor mum, I'll go and clear it up once I've done with this," Remus muttered, almost embarrassed. "Don't worry about it son," she flicked her wand, "I've already taken care of it."  
  
Remus giggled, he wished he could do that, but the chances of him ever learning proper magic were very slim, he wouldn't be allowed to go to Hogwarts, although he wanted to so incredibly much, and there was no way in wizarding hell his mother could afford to get him private tutoring.  
  
After breakfast his mother always let him do his own thing, which usually involved him cuddling up with a book on the battered old sofa, while it groaned and complained that he was too bony and snapped at him if he put his feet on it, and reading a book. However, this time she kept talking to him as she cleared away the dishes, and they were quite happily joking about in the kitchen as if it were the evening. Suddenly Remus had an idea.  
  
"Mum, please can you teach to me a simple spell." He looked at her pleadingly, " just one, a really simple one."  
  
His mother sighed. She really shouldn't, but her son looked at her with such a face that she couldn't resist, however bad a time it may be. Swishing and flicking they slowly went over the basics of a levitating charm. At first Remus used a spoon instead of his mum's wand, because he didn't want to break anything (they had too little money as it was). By lunchtime he was confident enough to try with a wand.  
  
For some strange reason, though she had been enthusiastic all morning his mother was now trying to talk him out of taking the wand and levitating one of the feathers that Remus had carefully removed form a very bemused sofa in the sitting room.  
  
But now he was determined to do this and determination was not something this shy boy lacked. Grabbing his mothers wand he swished and flicked and said "Wingardium Leviosa"  
  
What happened next was a bit off a muddle and .well actually it was a lot of a muddle.  
  
Remus dropped the wand in shock as a tall wizard with an incredibly long beard that was tucked into his belt Apperated in front of him where the feather was. The feather caught light setting the wizards beard on fire, while the wand fell to the ground and, with a bang, made the stone bubble and mould into strawberries and bananas, while becoming as slippery as ice and causing everyone in the kitchen to end up straddling a strawberry while nursing bruises and cuts.  
  
"Good Afternoon Larentia, it's a lovely afternoon is it not?" the tall man said to Remus' mother, while casually flicking his wand to restore the kitchen back into order. Everything apart from the strawberries was back to normal. "Rather comfortable these things aren't they?" The old wizard had a twinkle in his eye, and smiled at Remus mother.  
  
"Good afternoon Remus. It seems you will make a rather powerful wizard after a little training."  
  
Remus was positively terrified. Who was this man and more importantly, how had he just appeared out of thin air like that? And where was the feather?  
  
"What are you doing here?" Remus asked feebly, and realising a second later how rude he had been.  
  
The old man smiled at him, his eyes again mischievously twinkling, and said, "Well, now that you ask, Remus, I suppose I should tell you the purpose of my visit."  
  
Remus continued to look anxious, while Larentia smiled weakly and drew in a hopeful breath.  
  
"I was wondering where you intend to study magic Remus, because you haven't been entered for Beauxbatons or Durmstrang. You name has been down for Hogwarts ever since you were born."  
  
Remus looked up at the man in astonishment, this couldn't be. couldn't.he was a werewolf; they would never let him. he pinched himself. He didn't wake up. Hardly daring to think anymore he said slowly "Well, as you can see my mother is beginning to teach me magic, we can manage."  
  
Dumbledore chuckled, and looked Remus right in the eyes. Dumbledore had very bright blue eyes, and although Remus was usually very uncomfortable with looking into people's eyes, even his own mothers at times (he assumed it came from the werewolf part of him) Dumbledore's were so full of good, so pure that he didn't flinch once. There were narrow and yet bright as the morning sky, and filled him with similar warmth to that of the sunshine.  
  
His silver hair didn't frighten Remus as silver things usually did, instead he saw in it the light of one thousand stars, and was in awe. Although he didn't know him, he already respected him.  
  
"Remus, do you really want to be stuck in the house for the next 7 years while all those your age are out enjoying their youth?"  
  
"N...no sir" Remus could believe the excitement brewing in his stomach. His vision was blurred his hearing fuzzy he couldn't feel, he couldn't smell, his mouth was bone dry. Next thing he knew Dumbledore handed him a big letter, with all his schoolbooks and details. Remus' eyes were moving so fast that he couldn't hear what his mother and the Headmaster were saying, and as he skipped merrily round the kitchen he heard snippets of  
  
"Werewolf.willow.perfectly safe.yes, no need to."  
  
Remus didn't care! He was going to HOGWARTS!  
  
***  
  
Several miles away in a small village in Devon, a young boy with very messy hair was chasing an owl around the yard on a broomstick. The owl obviously had a letter for him, because it wasn't going inside, but it was quite obviously terrified of the boy as he zoomed between trees and walls after the owl.  
  
"JAMES!" he heard his mothers voice and attempted to land softly at her side, however he was going at a rather rapid speed and therefore ended up in a heap in the rosebush, with the angry owl sitting on his head and furiously nibbling his ear for attention.  
  
"Oh what's this. I never get mail!" James grabbed the letter and tore it open, and let out a yelp. "Hogwarts! No one told me it was Hogwarts letter day today!"  
  
His father snorted. "We didn't know if you'd get in boy" and James Potter promptly fell off his broom yet again. 


	7. Diagon Alley

A/N Sorry to my faithful readers and reviewers for my lengthy absence! I have been away from the country (in Germany :-o) for a while and then I became rather ill.but I'm better now, although still not at school yet, so I'm keeping up with my writing again! I'm going to post 2 chapters tomorrow (I haven't written the next one but I have written the one after so I'll post the 2 together ()  
  
Also I just want to say many thanks to - James-Padfoot, Hpgirl55 and Wood's secret lover for the faithful reviewing! It means a lot to me guys!  
  
Diagon Alley  
  
"The Leaky Cauldron, mum! Look!" Mrs Evans turned her eyes away from the record store on her right to see where her daughter was pointing, and sure enough, a run down grubby pub with peeling gold letters above the good stood tucked neatly away from passers by. She had a feeling that she would not have noticed it at all had Lily not pointed it out. Lily was clutching on to her dads hand excitedly, whilst skipping along beside him. She looked like Christmas had come early, as she opened the grotty little door, and a bell sounded somewhere within the Pub.  
  
It was an astonishing sight, and any doubts that Lily could have possibly had about the wizarding world being a joke were instantaneously vanquished. In the smoke filled room there must have been at least two dozen Witches and Wizards, dressed In Green Cloaks, Purple Cloaks, Black Cloaks, Orange Cloaks, New and Old looking Cloaks, Shimmering Cloaks, some were in just robes. A pair of wizards who looked like they were in their twenties were dressed in rather fashionable ripped denim robes with lots of patches and tie dyed corners. A girl in the corner was prodding a pointed hat with a wand (nothing like the ones that Lily saw on Muggle TV) as it changed colour, but she couldn't seem to get the shade quite right.  
  
The barman, who was wearing a somewhat worn black cloak and an orange top hat, looked up at Lily and her family and giggled delightedly.  
  
"At last! A Muggle born, I was hoping there would be at least one this term!" He gave Lily a wink, whilst casually tapping someone's glass to refill it. As if with an invisible hand, a bit of chalk scribbled another line in the tally mark beside the name Vorax Eribus.  
  
"That's your fifth one today, Vorrie, just be careful, yeah mate?" A young witch beside him said a bit loudly, making sure the barkeeper heard.  
  
The barman came out from behind the bar to shake Lily's hand and introduced himself as Tom. A few people had turned to look at Lily's family, but most of the Wizards there were regulars and used to Muggle born Witches and Wizards coming in to buy there supplies for Hogwarts.  
  
"Hogwarts is it dear?" he asked with a grin. "I'll just show you the way through, it's a bit hard if you don't have our own wand, but I suppose you will be buying one of those today! It's very simple, everything you will possibly need is on this street, if you get lost or anything just ask, people here are usually more than friendly, just a bit stressed usually!"  
  
It took Lily a few seconds to work out what he had said as he was talking somewhat fast out of enthusiasm. Finally she beamed, thanked him and followed him through to the yard. Lily and her parents watched in awe as the bricks rearranged themselves to form an archway, through which the walked into the most amazing place Lily had ever seen in her life.  
  
"Go right to the end of the road, that's where Gringotts, the bank is. You can change money there." Said Tom as the bricks began to rearrange themselves back into a solid wall.  
  
They sauntered down Diagon alley, not wanting to miss a thing, and there were so many things to look at. Every single one of the shops had something fascinating in them. Cauldrons, Owls, Cats, Telescopes were some of the few things that Lily recognised, but there were so many strange objects, creatures and substances that Lily had never laid eyes on. As well as new sights there were new sounds coming from the Magic Menagerie, strange, yet wonderful smells reached her nose from the Café which was a few doors down form the magical creatures shop.  
  
Eventually they ended up at the bank. The building was brilliant white, and absolutely beautiful, but they didn't look at it long, as Lily squealed.  
  
"Oh my god! It's a goblin!" And sure enough, outside the bank, standing as if it was nothing out of the ordinary, was a real live goblin. Cautiously Lily walked up to him, smiled weakly and walked into the bank.  
  
There were more goblins inside.  
  
"I guess I have to get used to it," Lily whispered in her Dad's ear.  
  
20 minutes later there were once again standing in the August sunlight, trying to decide where to go first. Finally they agreed that Lily would go to the Clothes shop to buy robes (it was right in front of them) and her parents would go and look at schoolbooks, since it was the most Muggle like thing on the booklist. Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions still smelled of paint and varnish so Lily guessed that it was new shop. Indeed she must have been right, A which who couldn't have been much older than Petunia was rushing around the shop tangled in a tape measure trying to find the right material for a pair of boys Lily's age.  
  
One of them was sandy haired, and looked rather tired and ill, yet extremely happy, even though a tape measure was intertwining itself around him, then suddenly measuring the distance between his nostrils, then his toes. He smiled at Lily, and rolled his eyes at the young witch who was still looking for the material.  
  
Beside him, the boy was already holding a wand, and facing away from the sandy haired boy and Lily in attempt to hide the fact that he was levitating the black fabric above the saleswhitches head. He turned round to flash a grin and Lily and dropped his wand. The fabric fell on Madame Malkin's head and Lily's jaw dropped.  
  
"Sirius!"  
  
"Lily! What are you doing here!? You shouldn't be here.you're uuh. hallucinating, let me take you out!" Sirius sounded in panic. If anyone found out a Muggle had gotten into Diagon Alley, well it was a disaster. He was about to jump down, but just then Madame Malkin called that the sandy haired boy was finished, and he jumped down.  
  
"See you at Hogwarts, Black" he winked and practically skipped out.  
  
Madame Malkin turned to Lily "Hogwarts, Dear?"  
  
"Yeah," she said weakly.  
  
"You-you're going to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.  
  
"And you?"  
  
They both nodded.  
  
"Well, err- See you there I suppose." Whispered Sirius, still in shock, as he was leaving, since his robes were finished. As he walked out, yet another Hogwarts pupil walked in, and Madame Malkin looked rather nauseated. She was already exhausted, and she didn't have that much clue what she was doing anyway, it was her very first day.  
  
The boy smiled at Lily. He was short and chubby with nearly white hair and watery blue eyes. He tripped over a tape measure that was idly floating around the shop, and Lily couldn't help but giggle.  
  
She met her parents again, and they had, with only a little difficulty purchased all her schoolbooks for her. They made their way round the shops, buying potions ingredients, equipment for her different classes, things that generally looked like they might be useful. Finally Lily came to the place that she had been looking forward to ever since she found out that she was a witch.  
  
She stepped in and yet again a bell was heard in the distance. A man with eerie, moon-like eyes came through from the back of the shop with a swish of his cloak and greeted Lily.  
  
"Ah, Miss Evans. I have been waiting for you. I was wondering if it would be toady you would choose to come and choose your very first wand. Of course, it's the wand that chooses the witch. Yes, lets try"  
  
And so the tried. Lily was Beginning to feel more and more stupid as she randomly waved her hand, each time holding a different wand, the contents of which Mr. Ollivander carefully explained to her each time.  
  
"Not to worry! Not to worry! I think, maybe- Yes, yes. I wonder-"  
  
"Sorry-" Lily began, rather scared of what this man was doing, as he was rushing around looking for something, and looked very excited.  
  
"Try this one, willow, ten and a quarter inches, rather swishy. Should be good for Charm work. Very powerful wand."  
  
Lily took the wand and raised her arm to do the swish, which she felt so stupid doing, as this must have been her 50th attempt. However this time a warmth spread from her fingertips all the way over her body and she felt, not stupid, but powerful. She brought the wand down through the thick air, and a rainbow of sparks came out of the tip.  
  
"Wonderful!" beamed Mr. Ollivander as he put Lily's wand in the thin box and took the money from her.  
  
As she walked out of the shop, a boy with messy black hair and a mischievous glint in his eye made his way in followed by his parents. Lily looked back and was stunned to see that the pile of wands she had left on the floor was gone.  
  
"Ah, Mr. Potter" Mr. Ollivander said. James beamed at the man. His parents both rolled their eyes; they both knew the Ollivander routine. After a short quizzing and a tape measure taking useless measurements Mr. Ollivander went to fetch a few boxes  
  
James looked in awe as the man pulled out a box and took out a wand. No one in the shop except for James was expecting the very first one to be the one. It never was.  
  
"Try this one. Mahogany, eleven inches, pliable. Rather Excellent for Transfiguration."  
  
James took the wand in his right hand, and feeling warmth all over his body flicked the wand in the air. Instantly there were red and gold sparks produced.  
  
"Amazing" whispered Mr. Ollivander.  
  
***  
  
With everybody's shopping done, all the children went back home almost as tired as their parents, now looking forward to Hogwarts more than they ever thought imaginable. Their Parcels and bags of shopping stood in their halls, to be packed into trunks over the course of the next few days, along with the all important clothing and toothbrushes and socks and pants that their mothers would fret and worry about. But now, none of them were thinking of any of those things, and all who had visited Diagon Alley that day had only one thing on their mind. As they sank into their snug beds, their eyes locked shut before their heads even touched their pillows and they were asleep in an instant. 


	8. Platform Nine and Three Quarters

Sorry it was so long getting this out, I was suffering some dreaded Writers Block and concentrating on some poetry for other chapters, which I may or may not use. Hmmmm.... Thank you again to my dear reviewers, I love you guys!  
  
WSL - Well I'm at school now, but I had that horrible bug that everyone's getting at the moment, I dunno if they have it at your school but half the school's off atm!!!  
  
Hpgirl55 - I just couldn't stop writing this fic, I have far too many good ideas for it! I might take a while because of school, but I can guarantee that I will be slowly but surely writing as much as I can!  
  
James-Padfoot - Thank you so much! You made me smile so much! Thank you!  
  
Vocis-amena - Well everyone else liked it. I'm not Joanne, so I'm not writing a 766-page book on this. And your names wrong. If you want it to mean the voice of the heart it would be Vocem amenae.  
  
OK, here we go!..  
  
"Please mum! It's just my broom! No one is going to notice, I'll hide it really well! Pleeeeeeeease?"  
  
"No James, I wasn't allowed a broomstick when I was in 1st year at Hogwarts and I don't see why you should be"  
  
"I won't tell anyone! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessee? I'll do the washing for a year!"  
  
"You won't be here to do it!" Mrs Potter stood up and walked out of the sitting room leaving her son standing on the sofa holding the broomstick in question and looking thoroughly disappointed. He heard pots moving about in the kitchen and smelt a fire being lit.  
  
"Damn, that one didn't work!"  
  
He went back upstairs to his room, where his trunk stood neatly packed (with constant pestering from his mother- she refused to do it for him, but did, in the end help him fold his socks and t-shirts neatly beside his schoolbooks and belongings). His new owl was just back from hunting, and although he had pretended not to be bothered in front of his parents, he had worried all night for her safety as she was still very young and it was her first time hunting. She was perched on the headboard of his bed looking very pleased with herself, and ruffled her still fluffy feathers importantly.  
  
"Come here Quaffle, you need to get some sleep, it's a long day tomorrow." Quaffle looked at him, as if she was still wondering why she was named after a ball, but obeyed James, and sleepily flew into her new cage. James looked sadly at his broomstick, and let it fall gently on his bed. Sighing, he looked around his room again for things he might have forgotten, but found none.  
  
He couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts. He would get to spend as much time as he wanted with anyone he wished, even maybe Sirius. He had met the boy at a Ministry of Magic entertainment evening, which both their fathers were attending, and they took a liking to one another. They were both making their way towards Mr. Crouch a very respected member of the magical community, and who had bored the both of them so much with his 45 minute speech that they were both ready to put the curse of the bogies on him for the rest of eternity, however they did not manage it because they knocked each other out in the process of stealing their fathers wands by turning around and crashing into each other.  
  
They had met up a few times since then (they were 7 when this had happened) and Sirius did a good job of keeping in touch nearly every day, but James did think the boy was rather strange. For one thing, James had never met his parents, only heard occasional squeals coming from the dinning room in the House of Black, which he presumed was his mother. She didn't sound at all pleasant, and neither was the House of Black. James always had a very uneasy feeling in there, and he never stayed for long. He had a feeling that Sirius felt this way too, but he never showed it. All in all, Sirius was just rather strange and James doubted very much that they would ever be friends when they were at Hogwarts.  
  
He looked once again at his broomstick, and sighing even more heavily than before went downstairs to the drawing room where he found his telescope. With all his stuff now retrieved form the darkest corners of the house, James settled down with the 'Standard book of Spells - Grade One' and began to read.  
  
***  
  
"Whoa, Whoa, Remus! Calm down!" The boy was rushing round the infinitesimal bedroom, trying to find something, anything that he may have forgotten. His mother was half laughing half crying. She was so happy that her son was going to Hogwarts, that he was going to be happy and normal like other boys, and yet, so sad that she wouldn't see him every day for the next 7 years of his life. She was stressed beyond belief, and although she found her son's behaviour hilarious, she was about to go insane with the pressure of packing enough clothes, socks and general life assisting accessories. Remus, of course wouldn't let her pack for him, and so the stress was doubled.  
  
He had, like every other boy in existence, begged his mother for a broomstick, been refused and thrown a tantrum, and Larentia felt so much love for her son, that she couldn't stay angry at him for long. They were now doing last minute packing, which was of course the way they did everything, and both suffering nervous breakdowns.  
  
When they were finally finished packing, it was really late, and both were extremely tired and exceedingly hungry and no one could be bothered cooking.  
  
"I'll tell you what honey," his mum told Remus, "we'll order a Chinese! I know you really like them, and its not every day you're about start Hogwarts. We can afford it just this once."  
  
"Oh no mum, not on my account. Really it's cool, we can just have sandwiches, if you want I'll make them-"  
  
"Stop being stubborn," His mother cut him off "I won't get one directly from China, they charge an awful lot for the Apperation. I'm sure there's a few lovely local places, I'll just look up the Wizarding Pages." And with that she was out of the room.  
  
Later that night Remus was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to eat his lemon chicken with chopsticks and laughing lots with his mother. He felt he was the happiest boy alive.  
  
***  
  
Lily was sitting on her hands in the sitting room while her mother rushed round the kitchen, not letting anyone in, preparing Lily's goodbye dinner for that evening. Lily had packed all her things into her brand new Hogwarts trunk about a week ago and spent the rest of the time worrying. She had not seen Sirius since their encounter in Diagon Alley, and was rather intrigued as to where he was from and why he had hung around in Grimauld place so much. However she assumed that he would be at Hogwarts so it wouldn't matter too much as she could talk to him at school, she presumed.  
  
All in all she was very excited and looking forward to the next day, after all, its not every day a girl transfers to the magical world.  
  
As the family sat down to eat dinner, Petunia shot her a look of pure hatred as Lily's father told the table how happy and proud of his little girl he was and how he was looking forward to her telling him all about it when she got home.  
  
***  
  
The next morning, on the 1st of September, none of the children who were about to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry woke up later than 5am. They all paced their bedrooms for at least an hour, raging with nerves, then went down to breakfast to sit and not eat everything while looking very green and causing their mothers to worry. Then they unpacked their trunks to check they had everything, re-packed before their parents noticed, fed their pets one time too many, and re checked their trunks once again. And soon they were being packed into cars, taxis or fireplaces to arrive at Kings Cross Station at least half an hour before the train was to leave. Everyone was equally nervous and equally scared.  
  
Before she knew it, Lily was in King's Cross Station with her parents, looking slightly nervous. When she had finally found her ticket, it read that it was travelling from London - Hogwarts from platform 9 and 3/4! There wasn't a platform nine and three quarters for god's sake! Petunia looked positively delighted, which made Lily feel, if possible even worse.  
  
She looked around the station. If this place was a school, and she had seen other pupils in Diagon Alley, there must be many more people looking for the platform. Her parents suggested to go somewhere between platforms 9 and 10 so as to not miss anyone.  
  
As they approached the place between the two platforms Lily say someone ahead of her, who quite clearly had a trunk like hers and an Owl perched on top of it in a cage. The boy was alone, dressed in a kilt, pink tights and a tie-dyed t-shirt. Petunia looked petrified as Lily went up to him confidently, pushing her trolley a bit too hard for Egregius' (her cat) liking. He squealed, as cats do, his basket fell off the trolley right into the boy's arms.  
  
"Could you be any more obvious? There's so many Muggles here, and your making such a racquet!" The boy had a badge pinned to his t-shirt and lily guessed he was a prefect. She blushed that she was in trouble before she had even reached the school. She heard a cheer behind her and then laughter from two boys. The moment she turned however, there were nowhere to be seen. The tall boy with red hair was about to leave, but Lily called him back.  
  
"Wait! I- well actually, its just that I- I don't quite know- where- where- " "The platform is?" A short bossy looking girl also with fiery red hair pulled into a bun at the top of her head appeared beside the boy, carrying her owl. Lily noticed that the boy had two trunks on his trolley. He kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"Molly I can manage perfectly on my own! So you're a Muggleborn? Tell me do you have any plugs?" He looked very excited. The other girl sighed, and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Really Arthur! All you have to do Dear," (she looked right at Lily with a kind face) "is walk straight through that barrier over there, don't be nervous or think about it, or it will seal up! Just do it at a bit of a run if your nervous." She smiled cheerily.  
  
"Thank you," said Lily uncertainly, and walked back to her parents to say her goodbyes. The boy and girl began arguing about something, but when Lily turned back to see what they were talking about they were already walking with their arms around each other towards the barrier. And then they were gone. Lily sighed. She was going to miss her parents so much! After kissing and hugging them so many times, and even smiling at Petunia (who scowled back) Lily took a deep breath and walked towards the barrier. She began to run and tightly shut her eyes. She wasn't in control of the trolley anymore, she couldn't stop it- She braced herself for the crash, any second now-  
  
CRASH.  
  
Lily was thrown against her trolley and landed on top of something soft that gave a scream that sounded awfully like a meow-  
  
"Egregius!" Lily stood up and picked up her slightly squashed looking cat before standing up. There was a crowd gathering, she was sure Petunia would be beside her in a minute, laughing at her. But the laughter she heard didn't belong to Petunia. But she recognised it- she had heard it before somewhere. Before she could think where, a tall skinny boy with shoulder length, greasy hair, and horrible black eyes, who was standing over her spoke;  
  
"Do you mind?" He spoke very slowly and Lily was disgusted by the yellowness of his uneven teeth. "Some of us would like to get to school in one piece."  
  
"I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to get through the barrier and-"the boy was already walking away, he muttered something under his breath as he walked, pushing his trolley purposely over Lily's foot. Although she felt like crying she was determined not to, so lily stood up, and brushing off her jeans she looked around.  
  
The platform was full of students. Some were wearing wizarding robes, like she had seen in Madame Malkin's Robe shop, although maybe better quality. Others were already in their school robes, but the majority were dressed in jeans or chords like lily with a random t-shirt. A sign above her head said "Platform Nine and Three Quarters - London." On the other side of the platform stood the most magnificent Steam engine Lily had ever seen. All around the steam engine there were students boarding the train, saying goodbye to their parents, greeting their friends, looking nervous. Lily made her way to the back of the train, as the front looked pretty full already. Oh her way she passed a young boy, probably her age talking to his mother who was carrying a large green handbag.  
  
"Now Frank, don't forget to write will you? And mind that you write to your Uncle Algie - he's been feeling a bit under the weather lately. And no messing around! Frank are you listening?!"  
  
Lily quickly moved on, the woman looked rather strict. Next she walked past a crowd of older students who were all whispering among themselves and taking it in turns to hold a cute little creature with a pointy nose.  
  
"I stole it from Dad when I was in his office, if that idiot Stultus is teaching again, we're going to need him, for a bit of entertainment!" they all giggled as the creature pulled at a bracelet the girl holding it was wearing.  
  
Lily walked on quickly, deciding she would go right to the back of the train so as to definitely get a seat. Lily was nowhere near strong enough to get her trunk onto the train, but still she struggled for a good ten minutes until two identical boys with goofy smiles and floppy hair found her and helped her carry her trunk into the baggage rack in the last compartment. There was already a boy in there, but he told Lily not to bother looking for another one as he had just checked and they were all full. He didn't introduce himself, but leaned out of the window again and was talking to his mother before Lily realised.  
  
She looked at his trunk on the rack, and saw that it said in peeling letters R. J. Lupin. The boy himself looked somewhat like a tired puppy dog, and as the train started moving, he didn't seem in the least bit embarrassed - as most boys his age would be - of his mother shouting she loved him from the platform and didn't roll his eyes when his father told him to take care. He sat back down on his seat and took a deep breath. Lily was still staring at him.  
  
"What?" Just as a short boy with really messy hair and an attitude problem walked into the compartment.  
  
"Hey guys, you have the pleasure of my company for this short train journey, since every other compartment is full. James Potter." He's stretched out his hand and R. J. Lupin shook it.  
  
"Remus Lupin." Said the boy with a wink. He smiled goofily and just then there was an explosion outside the compartment.  
  
"JAMES!" Sirius Black walked into his compartment, sat down beside Remus and began talking non-stop for the rest of the journey. Thus an unbreakable friendship was established.  
  
Lily sat on her own, listening to the boys, but being completely ignored. From that day on she vowed never to speak with such unpleasant, frustrating, and despicable people ever again in her life. 


	9. The Long Journey

Hey everyone! It's back again, and I'm nearly finished the next chapter too (though I say that every week don't I?) Thank you again so much for reading this, its gret having my own little fans, or something! Hehehe I think I'll shut up now ( (Incidentally, how gorgeous is Johnny Depp?)  
  
Hpgirl55- thank you ahain, so much for being a faithful reader, I always look forward to your reviews that are full of goodness!  
  
secret admirer- Thank you. You're making me blush! I will indeed write more and don't worry I have a really good plot thought up!  
  
Wood's secret lover - hehehe I figured they'd have people Apperate the take- away or send it by floo powder, but like really good an expensive stuff would be Apperated from China.  
  
duochang97 - I'm glad you liked it! You will find out about the boys soon enough, and some of the other characters who don't seem apparent at the moment. Thank you (  
  
James-Padfoot - I felt kinda evil doing that to Lily, but don't worry she'll get her revenge soon enough! I won't do flashbacks, because the whole story is one big flashback of Lily's life so more flashbacks would be quite confusing (to me anyway) but ill go through significant events on all the years, it wont be quite as detailed at the Harry Potter books (if it was this would have to be very very very very very very very very very very long....  
  
Impatient - your wish is my command. Here you are!  
  
wolf47- thank you! I try and update once a week. Usually on Saturdays so check back then, if you want to read more. Thank you again, but you can't have read that much because I there are a lot of talented people out there who are a lot better than me. But thank you so much!  
  
Ok guys, here we go.....  
  
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A journey through the countryside.  
  
The long journey continued steadily, and even got mildly better for Lily as they progressed towards Hogwarts. Although she sat with a book in her lap, reading, she did occasionally look up to see what the boys were doing, and all the time she listened in on their conversations. They talked in great detail about some sport called Quidditch and she decided that it sounded quite interesting, if not a little complicated. The boys discussed broomsticks and holidays, Chocolate Frog cards and Gobstones, like any boys of that age would - over dramatically and sensationally. Lily, though mad at these boys, had to admit that she had learned a lot about the wizarding world from them, because no matter how many books she read, she had only ever seen other wizards before this once, and she was amazed to find out about their lifestyle first hand. The boys seemed to be familiar with the wizarding world, even though they thought of it as one big plan to could cause mischief and mayhem.  
  
At around midday a cheery old lady came round with a trolley of what looked like every sweet ever possible. The moment she saw the goods, Lily didn't miss her chance to try anything. With a stack of Chocolate Frogs, some Pumpkin Pasties and a bar of chocolate ('Honeydukes Finest') she went back into the compartment, and to her uttermost disgust, saw that the boys appeared to have bought what looked like half the trolley and were now eating noisily, paying her no attention. They had chocolate smeared on their faces, and crumbs showered from their mouths as they spoke. As a result the compartment was a mess, and smelled of sweet sticky chocolate for the duration of the journey  
  
Later in the afternoon, when Remus had fallen asleep, the other boys took it upon themselves to go and explore the train and 'find some trouble.' Although they each received a disapproving glance from Lily, who thought she had already seen enough of these boys to last a lifetime, they refrained from commenting and proceeded out into the corridors, wands out. With Remus lightly snoring in the background Lily continued to read the Herbology textbook in peace, only moving to turn the page.  
  
Maybe an hour or so later the boys noisily returned to report to Remus, who they had woken up by throwing water over his small cuddled up body, what they had seen and then snapping in Lily's direction that the train was arriving soon, and she needed to get changed. Sirius looked over at Lily, sitting on her own in shock and smiled.  
  
"Hey, Lily, don't worry we'll leave." He smiled almost kindly at her and shooed the others out of the compartment and Lily changed into her school robes. She was grateful to Sirius, yet she thought that maybe his friendliness was not genuine.  
  
***  
  
As the got off the train, the first years stared in awe at the horseless carriages ahead of them, some even could be heard commenting, and contemplating how they could possibly move. Lily thought they were a bit bizarre doing that since the horse like creatures that pulled the carriages were clearly visible to her. However, the first year pupils did not take the route that the rest of the school as a tall daunting looking man with wild hair who was at least twice the size of a ordinary man, and three times the width was calling out to them in a strong accent -  
  
"Firs' years! Over 'ere firs' years! That everyone? Now c'mon we're walkin'."  
  
They followed the man down a road leading from the station and onto a small forest path, which was leading round a hill. As they rounded the corner they saw to their uttermost delight the most magnificent castle they had ever laid eyes upon. The gigantic man kept walking and soon they were at the edge of a vast dark lake, stretching out right into the cliff upon which Hogwarts Castle stood.  
  
"Right, me name's Hagrid, listen up, c'mon!" he looked over at the three boys at the back of the crowd who were not paying attention, and laughing hysterically. Beside them a girl with auburn hair was frowning furiously.  
  
"All right there Remus?" The boys stopped immediately, and Hagrid continued hastily, not to frighten the boy. "We'll be goin' on them boats, so everyone get in, four to a boat, hurry up!" James and Sirius were separated from Remus in the rush to get a superior boat, and ended up sharing with the boy called Frank, whose mother had been scolding him on the platform and a giggly little girl called Alice who looked as though she was about three years old, and acted no older.  
  
When they had finally reached the other shore of the lake, and were soon clambering up steps within a cave deep in the cliff. They were heading for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and none of them could wait until they finally got onto the dark green grass, so that they could once more catch a glimpse of the school.  
  
They stared in absolute awe at the beauty of the school in front of them, and although hearing Hagrid's voice in the distance, the first years ignored it for the scene in front of them. The walls towered tremendously around the castle, towers sprang from all directions, and turret upon turret upon turret spiralled out of sight to a point somewhere high, high above their miniature little heads. The windows shone like a thousand stars on a dark night, and the castle glowed in the moonlight.  
  
The moon was waning; it had been full just two nights ago, as Remus so painfully remembered. But it produced such a beautiful light that he figured he could forget it for just one fleeting second. He ran his hand through his hair and again became nervous. He was not the only one - along the line, Lily Evans was nervously straightening her school kilt, and the chubby blonde boy beside her, was wiping sweat off his forehead as he nervously looked round, as if searching an escape.  
  
Even Sirius and James were silent, they had stopped sword fighting with their wands, not because Lily had tutted 'childish' on her way past them, but for the magnificent sight. Hagrid hurried them along, and before they knew it, they were standing outside a door which must have seemed massive even to Hagrid, however it opened effortlessly, and at the top of the steps a young witch, maybe in her twenties, stood gazing over the children. James and Sirius, after only once glance noted that this was a teacher to avoid at all costs.  
  
Her hair was pulled into a tight bun, and her robes were freshly pressed and her mouth looked like it was too. He spoke in a strict, fast voice, yet it was easily understandable to those who had heard a strong Scottish burr before. What the students could not tell was that she too was incredibly nervous. This was her first year as the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, and knowing that she had to make a short announcement about the houses to the new pupils, she had prepared a well-rehearsed speech for them.  
  
"Thank you, Hagrid. Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room."  
  
James glanced at Sirius, who whispered, "I feel sorry for the poor sod that ends up in a house full of people he hates" "Or she," added James, winking. "Or she," agreed Sirius with a grin.  
  
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." James made a face when she said Slytherin, and the boy with slimy hair scowled at him.  
  
"Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding wizards and witches. While you are at Hogwarts your Triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will loose house points." "Don't think we'll be too popular mate," muttered Sirius.  
  
"At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The sorting ceremony will begin in a couple of minutes, so try and tidy yourselves up children!" 


	10. The Sorting

A/N Hey everybody! I'm finally back! This is such a boring chapter, so it took ages to write, because its just so boring! I think I might just post the next one right away too. :-) oohhh Dido's new album is out! If anyone wants to give me any gifts as a sign of how much they love me feel free! ;- )  
  
WSL - See you on Sunday, here's the song you've been waiting so much for! Oh and thank you ;-)  
  
Secret admirer- well I write what I can, this isn't an original novel after all, so goodness knows I have to keep to the stuff in the actual books.  
  
wolf47 - here u go! :-D  
  
Vocis-amena - yes yes, I realise that.  
  
Lightyearsaway - Scarily long I fear...Oh well! Thank you!  
  
Nemo - Love your name! Thank you for the compliment :-)  
  
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Even the boys now calmed down. And then they weren't calm at all. In fact, they were nervous wrecks. What if they really DID have to wrestle a troll? Or even worse, face a vampire, or a demon, or a werewolf.  
  
"What if there's a werewolf?" Sirius asked James a little too loudly. Remus gulped.  
  
"Of course not silly, its not full moon tonight!" But James looked even more worried nonetheless.  
  
"Looked pretty full to me."  
  
No one had time to reply, however, because at that moment the strict looking witch came back and the all followed her out of the chamber into the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Once again the first years were so in awe that their fears were momentarily forgotten and instead their minds were overrun by their senses.  
  
Four large tables stood in the hall, and another table where the teachers sat. Above them, thousands of candles were floating in mid air. The ceiling was made to mirror the sky outside, which that night was a black velvet blanket, shimmering with stars and planets, and the moon shone so brightly, that the need for the thousand candles was scarce. The chattering that had filled their ears when they walked in now died down, as the rows of Hogwarts Pupils turned to look at the new first years. Soon the great hall was silent, and the strict witch spoke.  
  
"I will call out your names in Alphabetical order, but now let the Sorting ceremony begin." And she gave the first years a look, which James only guessed must have been an encouraging smile.  
  
Suddenly a hat, which was lying on a stool quite motionless, began to sing, causing several of the people right beside it to jump.  
  
"You'll never find a hat as smart And wise and loyal as me For I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat As you will all soon see.  
  
When all the founders were still young And full of great ambition They started searching all the land For wizards worthy of tuition  
  
And thus the school in which you stand Far out of Muggle's reach Became each year a place in which Young wizards they would teach  
  
But times went on, and with them died The founders of this school And unexpectedly for them I was a useful tool  
  
So when they died, I still lived on, Continuing their duty, And sorted students into houses For all their inner beauty  
  
The loyal and friendly wizards, who Are full of love so pure, Are Hufflepuffs, undoubtedly, And that I know for sure  
  
Those with intelligence and wit Are drawn, no doubt to Ravenclaw Where they can fully understand And learn with but a flaw  
  
To Slytherin I only let, The cunning wizards with ambition, So here they can congress together, Learning to fulfill their mission  
  
The brave and noble of this clique No doubt belong in Gryffindor Where they together can achieve What the world is looking for  
  
So place me carefully on your head, Don't worry I don't bite I'll read your mind and tell you were You'll find your peace tonight."  
  
"Were trying on a hat?!" Exclaimed James, but hand no time to say anymore as the witch was already reading out the first name, and a girl with black hair was the first to go to the Ravenclaw table, who cheered loudly, when the hat screamed "RAVENCLAW!"  
  
Sirius was more nervous that the whole first year put together in his opinion. He didn't want to be in Slytherin, like the rest of his family. If he was in Slytherin he might as well die now, because there would be no purpose in life. whatever happens, he can't be in Slytherin. These thoughts were swimming in his head as 'Bones, Amelia,' was sorted into Hufflepuff. When the cheers from the right died down, he heard, as if in the distance  
  
"Black, Sirius"  
  
He walked the green mile to the stool, sat down and carefully placed the hat on his head. He jumped.  
  
Hhmmm. Interesting mind you have there boy. I can see that you are another Black. I've had many Blacks in my time; all the way back to Great Phineas Nigellus. But, no, you are not like him. I can see you are far more intelligent, yes, very intelligent. Ravenclaw? But no, you are also loyal, But oh my goodness you are ambitious, and a certain disregard for rules. Maybe you should go in SL...  
  
"No!" Sirius said out loud. He could hear the people in the great hall sniggering, but he did not care, this was far too important!  
  
"No you say? Very well, you have shown your bravery tonight. GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
A wide smile spread on Sirius face and he stood up on the stool, still wearing the hat and did a small dance. Out of the corner of his eye he could see even Dumbledore himself was clapping. He ran to the Gryffindor table, the sorting hat squealing in his ear to put it back. Embarrassed, he skidded back to the stool just in time to give it to his cousin, who scowled at him and snatched the hat off him.  
  
Lily couldn't help but smile at Sirius dopily running back with the hat and flashing the Professor an apologetic grin. He got an extra cheer from two identical boys, who must have been in 3rd or 4th year as he ran back. Lily was beginning to get nervous. The hat seemed to take longer with some people than with others, so what would happen if, if. what if the hat took forever with her, and she had to sit there until she died, and even then the hat wouldn't know.  
  
"Dickson, Meretrix" who was before her was sorted into Slytherin, and next the hat was anticipating Lily's appearance as McGonagall called out her name.  
  
"Oh, this is far too easy, I wish I had more like you, you know! Definitely a brave one - GRYFFINDOR!  
  
And that was it. Lily heard a loud cheer as she walked to her chair, and found herself right beside a ghost. He smiled sweetly at her, and she felt rather cold.  
  
When Remus next looked up they were onto Gudgeon, Davey who the hat took a few seconds to put into Hufflepuff. Remus clenched his hands together, and looked around. He caught James' eye and tried to smile, but ended up with a somewhat pained expression on his face. James tried, in return to look reassuring but his face was no better than Remus'.  
  
When Frank Longbottom was sorted into Gryffindor (after about 2 minutes with the hat on) Remus looked up one last time and then made for the stool. All the teachers were watching so he didn't look up, instead staring at his feet as he walked. His hair auburn fell into his eyes so he had to flick it back, and as he did so he noticed Dumbledore giving him an encouraging smile. Full of new nerve Remus confidently placed the Sorting hat on his intricate head.  
  
"Ah yes, I've been expecting you Remus" sad a voice in his ear. He almost jumped; he wasn't expecting the hat to talk to him! "Don't be scared dear, I'm just a hat after all! Now then, houses- Well definitely not Slytherin, that's obvious, you are quite loyal, but I think maybe Ravenclaw will be good for your mind, you are quite find of books aren't you? Yes, yes, Ravenclaw would be good. But who am I to judge? It had better be GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
And with the alleviating words of the hat Remus walked precariously towards the Gryffindor table, receiving a few dirty looks from the Slytherins for his considerably shabby robes. James smiled weakly as he saw the boy he had shared a compartment settle down beside Sirius, who has turned out to be way cooler than James had expected him to be. Moving from one foot to the next James realised that the crowd of first years had thinned out considerably, and he was now one of the few people left.  
  
"Pettigrew, Peter" The boy with mousey hair who had been standing just ahead of James was called forward and James knew that he was next up. He took a step forward as the hat announced to the hall the latest addition to the Gryffindor table.  
  
His hands shaking nervously he put the hat precariously on his head. He heard, like every single Hogwarts pupil, the sweet, gentle voice of the sorting hat, and the advice to go with it. After a quick insight into his character James realised with great disappointment that there was absolutely no chance that the hat would ever put him in Gryffindor.  
  
He was arrogant, annoying, boisterous, disliked rules, enjoyed mischief and hated authority-  
  
"A perfect GRYFFINDOR!" Said the hat in his ear, shouting out the last word to the whole hall. James fell off the stool in shock, causing Sirius to give a whoop of laughter and knock a plate right into the forehead of the boy sitting beside him, knocking him out cold. Severus Snape seized the sorting hat from James, giving him a cold stare as he did so, and James ran over to Sirius who was flapping his arms apologetically whilst Professor McGonagall, glaring angrily at him, swished her wand at the boy who had been knocked out.  
  
"Now please apologise to Peter, Mr Black!" She said sternly, causing Sirius to look somewhat pained, as he uttered a quick 'sorry' at the boy.  
  
Life at Hogwarts had begun.  
  
****  
  
When the feast had finished and the first years were thoroughly tired, they were led by prefects to the magnificent common room, which was guarded by a portrait of a fat lady, and directed to their dormitories.  
  
James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Frank all made their way up the boy's spiral staircase, right to the very top, where a sign read "Gryffindor 1st year Boys" The opened the door and piled in to the room, none of them caring which bed they ended up in and thinking solely of sleep. The muttered their goodnight's sleepily to one another and each collapsed on a bed. After a few minutes light snores could be heard from the bed closest to the window, where James lay, and in the one beside him, every now and again the sound of Sirius tossing over in his sleep carried to the beds across the room in which Peter lay gurgling in his sleep, Frank muttered importantly every now and again, and Remus lay staring up at the canopy of his four poster bed. What was in store for him in the next 7 years, and indeed the rest of his life, he did not know, but in later years he realised that there was no need for him to have worried so.  
  
***  
  
Lily looked around her slightly smaller, but still round room. The bed in it, like in the boy's dorms had red and gold canopies and luxuriously soft crimson carpets. Lily smiled to herself, she had, not expected to meet Sirius, or for him to be horrible to her, but she just knew that her life in Hogwarts was going to be better than anything she had ever experienced. 


End file.
